Atheists unveil monument near Ten Commandments

A group of atheists unveiled a monument to their nonbelief in God on Saturday to sit alongside a granite slab that lists the Ten Commandments in front of the Bradford County Courthouse.

As a small group of protesters blasted Christian country music and waved “Honk for Jesus” signs, the atheists celebrated what they believe is the first atheist monument allowed on government property in the United States.

“When you look at this monument, the first thing you will notice is that it has a function. Atheists are about the real and the physical, so we selected to place this monument in the form of a bench,” said David Silverman, president of American Atheists.

It also serves another function — a counter to the religious monument that the New Jersey-based group wanted removed. It’s a case of “ if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

American Atheists sued to try to have the stone slab with the Ten Commandments taken away from the courthouse lawn in this rural, conservative north Florida town best known for the prison that confines death-row inmates. The Community Men’s Fellowship erected the monument in what’s described as a free- speech zone. During mediation on the case, the atheist group was told it could have its own monument, too.

About 200 people attended the unveiling. Most were supportive, though there were protesters, including a group from Florida League of the South that had signs that said “Yankees Go Home.”

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